Jody Hanks

Small government conservative. Veteran.

[ThePersistence @ScottPresler]

@LeaderJohnThune @SenateGOP @TaxCuts ▪️Mail-in ballots can be received AFTER Election Day

▪️Children of illegal aliens obtain birthright citizenship

▪️You refuse to secure our elections & require photo voter ID/proof of citizenship to vote

[Ron DeSantis @RonDeSantis]

Good point.

[Clint Brown @DissidentClint]

Sir, I have some expertise in Senate rules and precedent. In fact, at one time you were one of a dozen senators who paid me for that.

The talking filibuster will work.

Senators who refuse to do this to pass the SAVE America Act are the ones demoralizing their own base.

[Jody Hanks @iamjackdunne]

@EricLDaugh Nothing. Ever. Happens.

[Jody Hanks @iamjackdunne]

@TRHLofficial @oliverburdick Dulia is honor given to the saints, Hyperdulia is honor given to Mary, and Latria is honor given to God alone. How does one make such a fine distinction between giving Hyperdulia to Mary and not Latria? Bottom line: If you’re praying to Mary, you’re not praying to God.

[DataRepublican (small r) @DataRepublican]

@LeaderJohnThune How about listening to the voters than whatever your corporate sponsors are telling you and your colleagues through Punchbowl News, POLITICO Playbook, and Axios?

[Sean Davis @seanmdav]

Thune only needs a simple majority vote to proceed to the SAVE America Act. But he won’t do that. He doesn’t want you to see the vote fail when people like McConnell vote against.

So instead of moving to the House-passed bill, he’s going to go out of his way to set up a 60-vote obstacle which will doom the bill to failure but will allow puke Republicans to pretend to support it since they know it’s dead anyway.

This is classic FAILURE THEATER.

[Megan Basham @megbasham]

If the GOP, while holding the presidency and both houses of Congress cannot get the Save Act passed, then conservative voters really do have to reckon with the fact that they do not actually have a party that represents them. They just have people who exploit them for money and career advancement.

[DataRepublican (small r) @DataRepublican]

. @PunchbowlNews would you like to comment on this business model I've reversed engineered of how you keep @LeaderJohnThune in line?

[Sean Davis @seanmdav]

Understand what Thune is doing right now. It’s not enough for him to kill the SAVE America Act. Thune has to kill it while also protecting his worst RINO colleagues from being
exposed for opposing it.

How does Thune accomplish his? By avoiding a simple majority vote at all costs. Thune knows a public vote where Republicans get less than 50 votes—with people like Tillis and Curtis and McConnell and Murkowski voting against IT—is electoral poison. He doesn’t want it to pass, but he also can’t have it die at the hands of his own puke colleagues.

So how does Thune do this? By refusing to move to the already-passed House bill (this only requires a simple majority because the House message is privileged) and instead moving to a new, standalone Senate bill. A new Senate bill is not privileged, and therefore the motion to proceed to it is debatable, meaning it requires 60 votes.

Thune needs to kill the SAVE America Act, not expose any of his GOP colleagues as being against it, and be able to pretend that he tried. This is the actual Senate GOP trifecta—doing nothing while pretending they tried everything and protecting the worst of the worst the whole time.

So when you watch the GOP Senate bring up a brand new SAVE America Act bill and hold a single vote on a motion that needs 60 to pass, know that they’re doing it because they think you’re stupid.

[DataRepublican (small r) @DataRepublican]

Hello, Mr. Desiderio,

Punchbowl News sells access to Capitol Hill for corporate clients. Their senior Senate reporter is you, Andrew Desiderio.

Here's how the access works: Punchbowl has a weekly show called "Fly Out Day," taped at the Punchbowl News Townhouse and described on their own site as an "exclusive first look" for Premium subscribers. Those Premium subscribers are the K Street corporate government affairs staff and trade association officials whose legislative interests depend on what Senate leadership decides to schedule… or kill.

The second-ever guest was Senate Majority Leader John Thune, on September 11, 2025. This is documented in your own webste.

Now let’s go over your post carefully.

You say Mike Lee "primed the GOP base to believe" something. That’s manipulative framing, the language of a man working a crowd. But Thune "pointed out" something. That’s the language of a man correcting the record, establishing fact.

This is not a one-off phrasing choice on your part.

Your Punchbowl coverage consistently frames Thune's positions as institutional reality and conservative alternatives as base management. Thune "declared" that the talking filibuster is dead. Lee and his allies "captivated Trump's base." Thune "had enough." The SAVE Act push is "a self-inflicted wound." These are not neutral verbs. They are a point of view… and it's Thune's point of view, delivered with a byline.

There's a structural reason this happens.

Jake Sherman described Punchbowl's business model in his own words on The Rebooting podcast (January 2022): nearly 90% of the outlet's revenue comes from corporate sponsorships… "trade groups and companies looking to get their public affairs messaging in front of those making public policy." The sponsors documented at Punchbowl include PhRMA, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Facebook, JPMorgan, Blackstone, the American Investment Council (private equity lobby), and others.

These sponsors need the goodwill of the Senate Majority Leader, who controls which of their legislative priorities come to the floor. Thune controls the floor. Thune sits in Punchbowl's townhouse. You reports Thune's framing as conventional wisdom.

When Desiderio writes that the talking filibuster "will ultimately fail" ... not might fail, not Thune argues it will fail, but when it ultimately fails ... is that journalism? Or is it the view from Thune's Fly Out Day chair?

You are busted, Mr. Desiderio.

[General Mike Flynn @GenFlynn]

This needs the attention of everyone. My God, why can’t we arrest the monsters that ordered and then allowed this horrific activity right here in America!? I no longer understand why people are not being arrested, investigated, brought in for questioning, do something! Anything!
@AGPamBondi

[James Woods @RealJamesWoods]

When we lose the House in September, John Thune will be single-handedly responsible. But he’ll still be richer than all of you, so he just won’t care.

Republicans are seriously more dangerous to America than the foul Democrats. At least the Democrats show you how vile they are.

[James Woods @RealJamesWoods]

The SAVE Act is the single most important issue to 95% of Republican voters. If you can’t pass it with a majority in the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court and a Republican President, then somebody owns your ass, buddy.

Who owns John Thune?